Psychedelics and Music

[laughingwillow]

quote jrl: The group mind field at a Dead show is sometimes so thick you could cut it with a knife. To me though, the lesson is that those dimensions and forces are always right there. I mean a huge gathering is gonna manifest powerful energies, but it can be done with much smaller groups, if everyone can tune in that fine.

I'd have to take your word for the above statement. (But I don't really believe it.) It may work on many levels, but not the one I'm really interested in, imo.

lw

[JRL]

Back in the day we used to do it with 10 people sitting around a table. Obviously it wasn't high energy like a Dead show, but you could feel the Spirit unmistakably, beaming down like sunshine before a tornado.

[cenacle]

i saw the band mercury rev in seattle recently...in a dirty little club called the showbox, gets good bands, but what a dump really, the band played like it was deep in the woods or on a stage shining with gold...couple hundred folks, few dancing but me and KD, they were just standing around with their drinks and tobacco, the band played like it was a tribal affair a thousand thousand years old...it ws...projecting behind them phrases of wisdom, challenge, koan...they rocked high and deep, whatever was going on included words, as in lyrics, and music instruments, the presence of many bodies, the physical environment, and the presences and forces that seem always around...were they teaching? i'd call it more witnessing, testifying...was there a dialogue? what else is there, though that word bothers me, inelegant...was there group mind? i don't know...i dont like much eastern thought at times, life is suffering etc...language is not an affliction or a virus, though many believe so...deny the body at the risk of all else...music sacred? music *is* like trees and love...this show still resonates with me...it reminds me of my phish tour days...a time of faith in shaking the night for its every last rhythmic, melodic jewel...some nights i'm still there...

'What appears as your shadow is formless as a mist
You keep telling your friends you know it exists
One becomes two then before you becomes three
Words climb your tongue like a ladder to speak
Drifting as you go but you row till it seems
All is one, All is mind, all is lost and you find, all is dream'

mercury rev, hercules, 2001

[JRL]

Well put, Ray. I don't think language is a virus, but sometimes all it can be is a finger pointing at what is beyond language.

I am so grateful for this thread, a lot of the experiences that these thoughts are based on have been memories largely kept to myself. Nice to compare notes with other explorers, we do this enough we get maps. I think these things are hard to talk about, I often find myself groping for words. So when I say "group mind" I am just saying that what I have perceived seems to look and behave in a way that you could imagine a group mind doing.
"It's like trying to tell a stranger about rock and roll"

I know the vibe you felt at that show. Monkeys on a rock, humans gather to celebrate life and its spirit. Seems to come from beyond, beyond religion, beyond history. I have felt it at a Dead show, felt it to the reggae felt it playing in a bar to 100 people, felt it in a drum circle in the shadow of the California capitol the day Mr. Garcia died.

Often when in the middle of it I think "why can't it always be like this, this is man's natural state, we were born for the ecstacy of soul commnunion?"
Fuck if I know the answer.

[laughingwillow]

jrl: Today has been one of spiritual musings and pondering for me.  Housework can be like that if'n you approach it right. I tried to tell weirdo that years ago, but I don't think he bought into it.  

Anyway, of course one can feel the Spirit during a drum circle. But we're talking apples and oranges, imo. For that matter, we could deconstruct this thread to the bare elements needed to reach a desired state and settle for one guy clanking on a pot with a spoon while a kid sneaks his first cigarette hidden in the garden beneath an open window...... When a person is tuned into that state, it can be tough to tune it out, even without an active sacrament in the system.

Up until quite recently, I'm guessing the vast majority of the meetings of the minds including music and entheogens took place in a small group setting without the aid of electricity. ANd I believe the psychedelic tradition into which we have tapped has a tracable linage prolly, back to the root of a specific branch of teachings. I believe that.

Elecrticity has changed a few things. And there is nothing like the feeling of  10,000 people getting tangled up in spirit at the same time. Although I realize it ain't for everyone, including the faint of heart and those without access to dependz undergarmentz

They say my great grandpa was fond of taking the horse and wagon into town for supplies. I wonder what he would think about this atomic freight train? hehe

lw

[JRL]

I too ponderd today as well, driving between gigs can be that, also. And I will say you're right, there is nothing like 10,000 charged energy fields. But that doesn't change the fact that whenever I strap it on I am trying to do very much the same thing,and to the best of my ability take everyone in earshot along with me. Maybe its not an atomic cannon but you would be surprised where our sail boat takes us.

When you come to my show I hope you consider it a sacramental occasion, becaue I will.

[senorsalvia]

Jeez, I love this thread!!  I have had maybe 15 hrs of sleep in the last 4 days and been working my lil tail off, so understand that I am in no shape to add any coherent substance to this magnificent outpouring...  Know that this thread shines with what SP is all about...  Will post when I get a decent sleep ...   Thankx guys..........    great great stufff----------  senorsal......            

[JRL]

yeah Senor, this is what I hoped the Groove would be all along. Please add your voice to the counterpoint.

[laughingwillow]

No doubt, Joe. It will definitely be a sacramental occasion (or two) when we finally make that gathering happen, bro.

I guess my main complaint about dosing at bar shows is the wide discrepancy of audience expectations. Getting hassled by an uncomprehending drunk puritan or two can make concentration difficult at best. Not saying it can't happen at a dead related show, but at least most of the folks there respect the drill even if they don't understand thge deal.

But we'll be there brother. In all of Our electric glory.

sal: Kind of tough to burn the candle at both ends now that you're a working class stiff, eh? hehe

lw

[senorsalvia]

After considerting my offer to post something of content; I figure Ah, what the hell..  I maen we that have in fact felt the mind meld of roup mind know full well that it does in fact exist...  ...  What more can be said 'cept stive to make it an everday occurrence eh??  ----------   Far as the workin stiff deal goes, well I work tommorrow and then the job is finished...  (did not get that pipe laying job after all and have been picking up a bit of side work....   Actually, I'm ready to hit some concerts and soak up the vibe for awhile....  Gotta be more productive than workin fer a livin right   -------------------  senorsal

[TooStonedToType]

Hippy Festival - Seahag

I wanna play at a hippy festival
Hippy Boys and Hippy Girls dancin' to my music
Gettin down trippin on lsd
Sittin' round the campfire sippin on mushroom tea
You can trip hard and dance to a band that rocks
You can have a sticker and sign our mailing list
You can check our website if your puter still exists
I wanna play heavy hard and lovingly
I wanna play while you all run wild and free
You can trip hard and dance to a band that rocks

[JRL]

Thanks guys, this just keeps getting better.

LW, I got the same problem sometimes, cause dosed or not after a proper set my chakras are wide open. Wish there were more non-bar gigs around.

At Da Torch, we got a small backstage area but I am often chased out by the ciggarette smokers. We got no smoking in clubs, but that doesn't include behind the scenes areas, and apparently about 80% of the musicians I know are nicotine freaks.

Hopefuly when you come you can catch a Mind X show(I am supposed to be getting more of them this summer cvause the first call bassie is going on tour with Melvin Seals and the "Jerry Garcia Band" as well as a Jimmy Pailer and the Bad Boys show. Get the full gamut.

[JRL]

Reading back a bit I reread your line about one guy banging on a pot. It IS all relative. I remember my first psychedelic playing experience. Just me and my brother and some cheap weed in this little studio apartment he had. I remember thinking, I can see our minds, and they are meshing like gears. Wow, is this what telepathy is?

[TooStonedToType]

LW: "Up until quite recently, I'm guessing the vast majority of the meetings of the minds including music and entheogens took place in a small group setting without the aid of electricity. ANd I believe the psychedelic tradition into which we have tapped has a tracable linage... "


I think it was Phil Lesh himself who mentioned Ute and other Indians would gather at Red Rocks Amphitheater.  They would gather there mainly because the natural acoustics allowed a larger audience to hear the drums. I've thought of the similarities today, and the natural progression electricity has made.  Allowing such musical gatherings to occur anywhere you can get a generator.  It seems like a very tracable linage.

http://redrocksonline.com/01_redrockspa ... story.html
http://www.coloradohistory.org/programs ... s_redr.htm

[senorsalvia]

Damn--  Don't start to apply any of those ideas if'n 'ya get into Tesla any:    He demonstrated that there was a conduit that existsted in the cosmos, that would provide all that has been related to and more...  IMHO Edison & such were lame compared to ole Nick-------  senorsal